"You said Grandma is fine?" I heard Momma's voice as if from far away and felt a hand stroking my hair. I couldn’t place where I was. Everything was hazy and indistinct, but it felt like something terrible had happened. Something my young mind couldn’t comprehend.

"She's fine. The Timber Wolves came a lot closer here than they did to her place. I shouldn't have left you here alone," Pa's voice shook, and I felt someone kiss my forehead. "She did well."

"She's her father's daughter," Momma said, sounding exasperated. "Wanted to charge into the woods after you to protect Granny."

Pa chuckled. I heard a smack and then, "It's not funny!"

Pa only laughed harder.

I drew myself to their voices from the darkness of sleep, and I moaned as my body felt achy all over, as if I'd just had the fifer sickness or drank rank kiefier.

"Momma? Pa?" I asked, my voice scratchy.

"We're here, hon."

"Wh-what happened?"

I opened bleary eyes to see them exchange a look.

"What do you remember?" Pa asked, bending to a knee beside me. I saw that I was in front of the blazing fire on the padded lounge.

I shivered even though the fire was warm enough to make sweat bead on my forehead. "I—I don't know. Something about Grandma and wolves." My voice was so low Pa leaned forward to hear me.

His eyes grew soft as my breathing got faster as I remembered red eyes and sharp teeth.

"A—A bad dream," I said, voice trembling. "Nightmare. Pa?" I asked, hunching my shoulders and looking up at him, wanting him to confirm that it was only a dream.

He looked at Momma, and she shook her head. He set his hand on my hair, giving it a ruffle.

I was so shaken I didn't even slap his hand off like I normally would.

"It was more than that, kiddo." His eyes held a soft empathy, but even more, a pride that made my heart grow warm. "You took down a Timber Wolf."

I gasped, my hands flying to my mouth as the night before came flashing back in full force.

I curled into a ball, and there Pa was, picking me up and wrapping me in his strong arms as I sobbed, the bits of pieces coming together to show the full picture and how close I'd come to dying. How close we'd all come.

He gently rocked me back and forth, his arms strong and warm around me, and his heartbeat a soothing cadence in my ear.

"Shhh. It's alright. You're alright," he whispered.

Momma sat beside him and gripped my hand, both of them holding me together as the world fell apart around my young life. I had thought myself invincible. I thought myself strong.

But that day, I realized something.

Everyone I knew was mortal. Everyone I knew could die.

I was mortal. I could easily die.

And I swore to get as strong as I could to prevent feeling that scared ever again.

----------------------------------------

"Kiddo, whatcha up to?"

I paused the strike against the hay I'd pushed, pulled, and shoved until it was upright. Until it could be a person. But it was a person about my height. Which was good and bad.

Stolen story; please report.

If I ever fought another Timber Wolf, it was going to be five times my size. At least.

I trembled at the remembrance. I struck the bale, crying out when the hay dug into my knuckles.

Pa chuckled behind me. “Kiddo, come here.”

I turned, my shoulders hunched. I couldn’t look at him, embarrassed that I had cried from merely hitting the hay. Was I really going to be a great warrior like my father if I couldn't handle the pain?

He grabbed the hand, looking at the knuckles. “Ahh, that would do it.” He plucked a thorn embedded between my fingers, and my eyes widened. “You ain’t no whimp, my little wolf heart. You just need to be trained.”

I looked up at him, shoving back my hair. “Will you help me? In case I face a wolf again?”

He ruffled my hair, a smile creasing his blue eyes. “Absolutely.”

I grinned. He’d taught me how to face men. He’d taught me to wield swords and daggers and the pressure points of man. But when faced with beasts... that was another animal entirely.

“First, learn your—“

“Enemy,” I finish for him, sitting cross-legged on another bale of hay and leaning forward.

He grinned, tweaking my nose. “Exactly. What can you learn from your last experience with a Timber Wolf?”

I scrunched up my eyes in thought. “They’re big?”

“Yes. What else?”

“They have big teeth?”

“True. What else?” I could tell he was trying not to laugh at me.

I thought harder, but my brain was drawing a blank. I opened my eyes, looking back at the house with a sigh. My shoulders slumped. “I don’t know. Big eyes and ears?” I asked, looking up hopefully.

He hid a smile behind a cough. “What did the wolf do?” he asked, trying to restrain his amusement by making his voice extra serious.

“It broke the door. It was smart.”

“Intelligence. This is no mere animal we’re dealing with. It knew the weakest point and targeted it.”

My frown turned into a smile at coming up with something useful. I looked at the house again, remembering that night... but differently. Analytically. Logically instead of emotionally. “He didn’t—he was slow.” I rub my cheek, trying to figure out what I was thinking in a way I could describe. “He didn’t attack right away. He...”

I looked up at Pa, at a loss. He nodded, his eyes showing patient understanding. He sat on the ground, dust poofing from his trousers where he’d been working in the fields.

He plucked a piece of hay from the bale, chewing it. “So he liked to smell your fear. He liked the thrill of the hunt.” His eyes saw me shiver. “We can stop if you need to.” His voice conveyed a gentle understanding.

I shook my head, my blonde braids slapping my cheeks. “No. This is helping.”

He ruffled my hair again, but I batted him off, frowning.

He pursed his lips, trying not to grin as he turned to face the fields of grain before us. “What else?”

I remembered how the wolf was almost fat. He was no mangy, starving animal desperate for food. “He was hungry, but not starving. Why did he come to our house? Why not chase easier prey?”

He tapped his head, looking at me. “There you go. Good question, kiddo. Wolves in general have an excellent sense of prey drive. They love the chase and the challenge. Timber Wolves are both the same and different. They have the intelligence of humans, combined with an animalistic drive for blood. This one found a challenge, and he liked it. You were strong and ran him off... for now," he muttered the last under his breath, then turned his eyes back to me. "But Timber Wolves also have an innate and beautiful loyalty that reminds me of other creatures. If one were able to tame one... it could change the worlds.”

I looked at him funny. He almost seemed like he respected the creatures that almost killed his daughter. Almost killed me. I hated the creature. Hated the fear and power it had over me.

He glanced at me. “Don’t get me wrong, they are dangerous and not to be trifled with. But there is also good in them, just like with people. If we have a bad experience with a person, do we say all people are bad?”

I didn’t like where this was going. I crossed my arms and turned away.

I jumped when something tickled the back of my neck. I slapped away the hay in his hand and glared at his smiling face. “Come on, little cub. Don’t be like that. We can take Graham through the woods.”

I turned too quickly, almost falling off the hay bale. “We can?”

“Of course.” But he didn’t move.

I groaned when I realized that was pure bribery. “Fine,” I said. “No. One person doesn’t represent the whole,” I said, repeating something he’d oft said.

“Good girl. And?”

“And one bad experience with a Timber Wolf doesn’t mean all are bad,” I muttered, not meeting his gaze.

“Nicely put. I understand how hard it is, but I also don’t wish you to harbor a hate that can kill you slowly from the inside.” His eyes grow distant, as if seeing something from long ago. He shakes his head, turning back to me. “I want three other things you learned from your fight, and what you can do better next time, tomorrow. For now, we ride!”

I jumped up, kissed his cheek, then ran inside to tell Momma the plans.

But in the back of my mind, I couldn't help but wonder. If the Timber Wolf had human intelligence and it liked a challenge... would it come back for us? Would it come back for me?

I shivered, dread pooling in my stomach. Next time, I would be strong enough to kill it.